The Best Provision for the Hereafter [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Hajj

Last year I went with my parents
to Arabia to take
part in the glorious ceremony of
hajj.What an auspicious
journey it was! And how I wish
you had been
there and seen those glorious rnanasik
(rites) of hajj.A little distance to Makkah, we
stopped at a place
called the miqat.There we took
off our clothes and
put on ihra!m (the plain white
coverings).As I put on
ihram according to Islamic rules,
my father said to me:
"My boy, you are now in the state
of Ihram.That
means that you must be more mindful
of Allah.In the
state of ihram you must not tell
a lie, you must not
make an oath, you must not hurt
animals, and you
must not quarrel with anyone.Hopefully
this will train
you in overcoming your desires
and remaining the same
way in the future."My son, hajj to the House of
Allah is a great act
of worship and a sublime training
ground for human
development and perfection.Here we are trained in
the subjects of simplicity,
equality, humility,
self-restraint, etc."
Once we had dressed ourselves in
the coverings of
ihram, we headed off to Makkah
with all the other
hujjaj.all of us saying labbayk
Allah urnrna labbayk"!
Really I could hardly believe my
eyes.Hundreds of
thousands of people, all from different
nations and
races, were all wearing the same
simple ihram' with
one mind.with one voice, in all
equality, were moving
along with us to Makkah.As soon as we arrived at Makkah,
we eagerly went
to the Holy Kabah to perform the
tawaf (circumambulation).What a sight it was! How beautiful,
how glorious!
The surge of the huge crowd reminded
us of the
Day of Resurrection, and brought
home to us the greatness
and glory of Allah.Around the Kabah, we performed
the tawaf, and
when we finished we performed the
other rnanasik of
hajj.Being at the hajj also had another
benefit for us.Throughout we all, especially my
father, had long
discussions with Muslims from other
countries.We talked
about their economic, political
and cultural conditions,
and we became aware of their manners,
culture and
problems.When we arrived home
my father talked
about these things with all his
friends, and so we all
benefited from this good and useful
information.*It is wajib for every Muslim,
who is able to afford.to go once in his or her life-time
to take part in the
hajj, and thus come back with a
radiant heart and a
new resolve for perfection.Al-'Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (AS)
has said: "Whoever
forsakes his wajib hajj without
a religious excuse.will
leave this world not as a Muslim
but will be considered
on the Judgment Day among the non-Muslims."